Head Swap Questions?

[MyHoFoSho]

So started my cam and head swap the other day and everything is going good other than when I pulled my heads off i got to looking at them and noticed that they are E6se heads and the pistons dont have the normal valve reliefs cut in them. But my question is there any other differnce in the motors than that, i thought that my car being a 1990 HO that it just had the e7 heads on it. And how bad are the E6 heads over the E7. And i am putting a TFS1 cam and GT40 heads. I check piston to valve clearance and it seemed ok as long as i was doing it right. And are the E6 engine still the HO firing order and if not is there any thing i have to change over to make it all work. Any help would be great.

 

[NIKwoaC]

E6 heads give up quite a bit of performance versus E7s. E6 heads were an '86-only thing (for Mustangs), sounds like your engine has been swapped at some point.

I'd be surprised if you didn't have PtV issues with a TFS1 cam and GT40 heads on an '86 piston. How are you checking PtV?

Lastly, heads do not affect firing order.

 

[MyHoFoSho]

i checked by using the chewing gum method (seen it on horsepower tv) i put the passenger side head on with no head gasket put a few bolts in, just snugged them down and rolled the motor over a few time about 6 to be exact and there was no mark on the gum. Oh and the gum was in the frezer was for about 15min before i did this. Any help would be great i am at a stand still with my car and i want to get it out, it actually did better on gas than my bronco.

 

[stykthyn]

You may and I am using that word lightly get away with gt40 heads on flat top pistons and that's without the tfs cam thrown in the mix. I would at the very least get the pistons notched. Preferably get new ones and use a push rod checker to measure exact pushrod length. Plan c whch is likely cheaper and easier would be to find an explorer engine and put the tfs cam in. Then sell your old stuff on craigslist.

 

[MyHoFoSho]

well that blows.. Really dont have any more money to sink into this thing to make it run. So no one thinks the vavle are going to clear the pistons. But when i checked there was no mark on the gum at all.

 

[NIKwoaC]

Where was the gum? And did you use a solid roller lifter to check PtV?

 

[stykthyn]

Given standards of deviation and factory overages and underages its possible, but I wouldn't put money on it. Most guys can't put e7s on that block without ptv. The only head that I know of that won't interfere is the trick flow head and then you are looking at some serious coin.

 

[MyHoFoSho]

ok so somthing i didnt think about is that i checked with my stock hyd roller lifters, and every thing i am reading is to check with solid roller lifter. Well since i dont have a solid roller lifter i can get my hands on is there any way to use my hyd roller lifters to check clearence. Can i lock them open so they dont collapse on me.. Any help would be great.

 

[MyHoFoSho]

and the gum was put under both the exhaust and intake valve i had two peices that is used both 1/4" thick. But if the lifter was giving me the false reading none of that would matter.

 

[NIKwoaC]

You can convert a hydraulic roller lifter to solid for checking purposes only. This damages the lifter though.

I'm getting ready to do it myself for my engine build, to check PtV. You need to take apart a factory lifter, throw away the spring, grind .020" off the main plunger, flip the plunger, and reassemble the lifter with the plunger in there backwards.

I've heard that it is possible to do it without grinding the plunger, but I don't know for sure. If you could, you might be able to take it apart and reassemble it the correct way with the spring back in there and reuse it for your engine build, I don't know.

Here is a write up I just found. This guy did not have to grind his:

How To Convert A Hydraulic Lifter To A Solid Lifter For Valvetrain Measurement - Ford Mustang Forums

BTW, this gum method sounds sketchy. Maybe you should try modeling clay, that's how the pros do it. That way, you know exactly where the valves are.

 

[NIKwoaC]

Wanted to let you know, I spent a couple minutes on my lunch break messing with the lifters, and it is VERY easy to convert them to solid. I did not have to grind them at all. I found it odd how that works out so easily. It also *looks* like you could rebuild them the right way with the spring and still use them in your engine. Not sure though.

I want to also mention that you should probably wear safety glasses. The retaining clip goes FLYING if you're not careful. I lost one of mine.

 

[MyHoFoSho]

hey thanks guys for all the help and i got a solid lifter and rolled over the motor and SMACK valve hit piston. So what i am going to do is put the 347 i have built in ( i know the pistons will clear the valves with the mild cam and heads for the motor. I am just worried about how it will perform with the restrictive heads and cam in it.. And what size injectors should i run with the gt40s and tfs1 cam in the 347.

 

[NIKwoaC]

Ah, I figured you'd have PtV issues. Good thing you caught that, or you would be junking that motor!

Injectors? 30s, probably. Google "fuel injector calculator".

 

[7upstang91]

In a 347, 30 pounds will be good.

 

[MyHoFoSho]

yeah it sucks that i have to run the 347 without the big heads and cam i want and also the big vortech blower but at least this way it will be all broken in when i get the stuff in and then can go right to beating on it again. And what kind of hp and tq numbers you guys expect form this combo with the trick flow cam and gt40 heads. I mean i know it will run the early lightning motors were just gt40 heads but the motor will not live up to it full potential.